Methods and electronic devices for selecting and displaying thumbnails

ABSTRACT

According to one aspect, a method of previewing multimedia data, including selecting a first graphical representation in association with a multimedia object, displaying the first graphical representation, receiving an input in relation to the first graphical representation, in response to the input, determining whether to change the first graphical representation, and if so then selecting a second graphical representation from the multimedia object in a randomized manner, and displaying the second graphical representation.

FIELD

Implementations herein relate generally to previewing of multimediadata, and more particularly to methods and electronic devices forpreviewing video multimedia data using at least one graphicalrepresentation.

INTRODUCTION

Electronic devices are often used to obtain and store multimedia data,such as video files. On some electronic devices, a thumbnail or otherimage may be presented as a graphical representation that corresponds toparticular multimedia data (e.g. a video object, a slide-show, a musicfile, and so on). Actions may be performed on the multimedia data bytaking some action in relation to the graphical representation (e.g. auser may play a video media object by clicking on an associatedthumbnail).

In some cases, thumbnails are still pictures such as photographs,drawings or icons. In the case of multimedia data that includes video, athumbnail may be an image taken from the video itself (e.g. a frame fromthe video).

When thumbnails are used to represent videos, it may be desirable thatthe thumbnails give some visual indication of the content of the video.However, sometimes the particular thumbnail being displayed may notprovide a desired indication of the video. For example, the thumbnailmay not accurately represent the content of the video or may notdistinguish the content of that video from other videos.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of implementations described herein, and toshow how they may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, byway of example, to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an electronic device accordingto one implementation;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portable electronic device accordingto one implementation for displaying graphical representationsassociated with videos;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the display of the portable electronicdevice of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is another schematic view of the display of the portableelectronic device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for displaying graphicalrepresentations associated with videos according to one implementation;and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a video having a plurality of frames.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, the concepts described herein are directed to selection ofgraphical representations corresponding to multimedia data. Inparticular, some of the concepts herein pertain to thumbnails for videosthat may be selected and displayed in a randomized manner in response toa user input.

For example, a first thumbnail may be displayed on a display inassociation with a particular video. An input may be received toindicate whether the first thumbnail is acceptable, or whether a newthumbnail is desired. If a new thumbnail is desired, the new thumbnailcan be selected in a randomized manner (e.g. by randomly selecting aframe from the video). The new thumbnail can then be displayed on thedisplay in association with the video.

In some cases, another input may be received to indicate whether the newthumbnail is acceptable, or whether another thumbnail is desired.

This process can generally be repeated until the displayed thumbnail isa desired thumbnail. This may allow a user to select more meaningful orinteresting thumbnails to represent particular videos without reviewingthe video to locate a desired thumbnail.

Generally, the term “randomized manner” includes random or pseudo-randomselection of thumbnails. The term “randomized manner” also includesselection of thumbnails according to some particular pattern orsequence, and which may have some non-random elements. For example, thepattern or sequence may be predetermined.

Generally, implementations as described herein may be implemented on oneor more electronic devices, which may include a wide range of devices,such as mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs),personal or desktop computers, notebooks, laptops, digital audio/videoplayers, digital video recorders, tablet computers, and so on.

On some of these electronic devices, particular computer resources (e.g.memory capacity, processing power and screen space) may be more limitedthan on other devices. A portable smart phone, for example, may have asmaller display and less memory capacity than a personal computer, whichmay have a larger display and more memory. However, the concepts asdescribed herein are not limited to any particular kind of electronicdevice, but are generally suitable for use on various electronic deviceswith differing computer resources.

In some implementations, the electronic device may be a portableelectronic device, such as a smart phone or PDA, and which may havevoice communication capabilities, data communication capabilities, orboth, over one or more of a wired connection or a wireless connection.

In some implementations the implementation is carried out using anon-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon computerreadable instructions comprising instructions which, when executed,cause the electronic device to perform the implementation.

For example, FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of components of aportable electronic device 100 according to one implementation.

The portable electronic device 100 generally has multiple componentsincluding a processor 102 that can control operation of the portableelectronic device 100. In some implementations, the processor 102 may bea microprocessor. In some implementations, the processor 102 may be aCentral Processing Unit (CPU). In some implementations, the processor102 may be a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

In some implementations, communication functions, including datacommunications, voice communications, or both, may be performed on theportable electronic device 100 using a communication subsystem 104. Insome implementations, data received by the portable electronic device100 may be decompressed and decrypted by a decoder 106.

In some implementations, the communication subsystem 104 may be used tosend and receives messages over a wireless network 150. The wirelessnetwork 150 generally may be any type of wireless network, includingdata-centric wireless networks, voice-centric wireless networks, anddual-mode networks that support both voice and data communications.

In some implementations, the portable electronic device 100 may be abattery-powered device and may include a battery interface 142 forreceiving one or more rechargeable (or non-rechargeable) batteries 144.

The processor 102 may also interact with additional subsystems, such asa Random Access Memory (RAM) 108, a flash memory 110, a display 112(which may have a touch-sensitive overlay 114 connected to an electroniccontroller 116 that together comprise a touch-sensitive display 118), anactuator assembly 120, one or more optional force sensors 122, anauxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystem 124, one or more data ports 126,a speaker 128, a microphone 130, short-range communications subsystems132, and other device subsystems 134.

In some implementations, user-interaction with the portable electronicdevice 100 may be performed through the touch-sensitive display 118. Forexample, the processor 102 may interact with the touch-sensitive overlay114 via the electronic controller 116. Information, such as text,characters, symbols, images, icons, and other items may be displayed orrendered on the touch-sensitive display 118.

In other implementations, the display 112 need not be touch-sensitive.In such cases, user-interaction with the portable electronic device 100may be performed using one or more other input devices, such as a keypador buttons.

In some implementations, the display 112 may be a Liquid Crystal Display(LCD), a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display, a plasma display panel, aprojection unit, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) or a SurfaceElectron Emitter Display (SED).

In some implementations, the processor 102 may also interact with anaccelerometer 136 as shown in FIG. 1. The accelerometer 136 may beutilized for detecting direction of gravitational forces orgravity-induced reaction forces, and in some cases may be used todetermine a position or orientation of the portable electronic device100.

In some implementations, to identify a subscriber for network access,the portable electronic device 100 may use a Subscriber Identity Moduleor a Removable User Identity Module (SIM/RUIM) card 138 inserted into aSIM/RUIM interface 140 for communication with the wireless network 150.Alternatively, in other implementations, user identification informationmay be programmed into the flash memory 110 or using other suitabletechniques.

Generally, the portable electronic device 100 includes an operatingsystem 146 and software components 148 that are executed by theprocessor 102 and which may be stored in a persistent store, such as theflash memory 110. In some cases, additional applications may be loadedonto the portable electronic device 100 through the wireless network150, the auxiliary I/O subsystem 124, the data port 126, the short-rangecommunications subsystem 132, or other suitable device subsystems 134.

In use, a received signal such as a text message, an e-mail message, orweb page download may be processed by the communication subsystem 104and input to the processor 102. The processor 102 may then process thereceived signal for output to the display 112 or to the auxiliary I/Osubsystem 124. In some cases, a user may compose data items, such ase-mail messages, which may be transmitted over the wireless network 150through the communication subsystem 104.

In some implementations, voice communications may be similarlyperformed. For example, the speaker 128 may output audible informationconverted from electrical signals, and the microphone 130 may convertaudible information into electrical signals for processing.

It may be noted that FIG. 1 is a conceptual or schematic diagram, andthat one or more of the components shown therein may be combined intoone or more physical electronic components (e.g. one or more hardwarecomponents).

Turning now to FIG. 2, illustrated generally therein is a portableelectronic device 200 for displaying graphical representationsassociated with multimedia objects, such as videos, according to oneimplementation.

In this implementation, the portable electronic device 200 is a “slider”device and generally includes an upper housing 202 (or sliding portion)and a lower housing 204 (or base portion). The upper housing 202 andlower housing 204 are coupled together and are slidable between a closedposition (not shown) and an open position (e.g. as shown in FIG. 2).

In other implementations, the portable electronic device 200 may not bea “slider” device, but may generally have any other suitableconfiguration. For example, the portable electronic device 200 may be a“candy bar” style device, a “flip” style device, and so on.

As shown, the portable electronic device 200 generally includes adisplay 206, which could be an LCD display or other suitable display,and which may correspond to the display 112 as discussed above. In someimplementations, the display may have touch screen capabilities (and maycorrespond to the touch-sensitive display 118 as discussed above). Inother implementations, the display 206 may not have touch screencapabilities.

In some implementations, the portable electronic device 200 may includeone or more input devices, such as navigation keys or buttons, aphysical or virtual keyboard or keypad, a trackpad, a touchpad, atrackball, multimedia keys, etc.

For example, the upper housing 202 of the portable electronic device 202may include an auxiliary input device 212. In some implementations, theauxiliary input 212 device may be an optical navigation module (e.g. anoptical trackpad) that responds to user interaction, and which may beused for navigating on the display screen 206, to select objects on thedisplay screen 206, or for other purposes.

In other implementations, the auxiliary input device 212 may be amechanical device that responds to manual user interaction (e.g. atrackball that responds to the movement of a user's finger or thumb).

The portable electronic device 200 may also include other input devices,such as buttons 208, 210, a dedicated application button 211 (whichcould be used to automatically launch a particular application, such asa camera application), an “on/off” button 213, etc. In variousimplementations, at least one of these input devices may include opticalsensors, mechanical buttons, or both.

The portable electronic device 200 could also include one or more inputor output ports (e.g. I/O ports), such as a microUSB port (and which maycorrespond to data port 126). In some examples, the microUSB port may beused for data communication with the portable electronic device 200, forcharging a battery, or for both.

In some implementations, the portable electronic device 200 may alsoinclude an audio jack 217. The audio jack 217 may be used to couple theportable electronic device 200 to a speaker or a microphone (or both)for use in voice communication, for listening to music or videos, etc.

The portable electronic device 200 may also include an auxiliary outputdevice 219, which could for example be a speaker (and which maycorrespond to speaker 128 as described above).

As shown, the portable electronic device 200 may also include a keyboardor keypad 220 (shown here on a lower portion 218 of the lower housing204). The keypad 220 may include a plurality of alphanumeric keys 222,and which may be positioned in various rows and columns. In someimplementations, the keys 222 may represent at least a portion of analphabet and may be arranged according to one or more standard keyboardlayouts (e.g. QWERTY, QWERTZ, DVORAK, etc.)

As discussed above, in some implementations the display 206 may be atouch-sensitive display. The touch-sensitive display may be a capacitivetouch-sensitive display, for example, and a user's touch on thetouch-sensitive display may be determined by determining an X and Ylocation of the touch, with the X location determined by a signalgenerated as a result of capacitive coupling with a first touch sensorlayer and the Y location determined by the signal generated as a resultof capacitive coupling with another touch sensor layer. Each of thetouch-sensor layers may provide a signal to a controller that representsthe respective X and Y touch location values. Thus, features such as avirtual button or other feature displayed on the touch-sensitive displaymay be selected by a mapping of the touch location (e.g. from a user'sfinger) to a feature on the touch-sensitive display.

Turning now to FIG. 3, the display 206 of the portable electronic device200 may be used to display at least one graphical representationsassociated with at least one video or other multimedia data object.

As shown, the display 206 may have a plurality of display regions,including a first display region 230, a second display region 232 and athird display region 234. Each display region 230, 232, 234 may displayat least one graphical representation that is associated with aparticular multimedia object (e.g. a video object, a slide-show, a musicfile, a music album, a podcast, an audiobooks, a radio station, etc.).

For example, in this implementation the first display region 230currently displays a first graphical representation 231 (e.g. athumbnail image of a “smiley face”) that is associated a first videoobject. Similarly, the second display region 232 currently displays agraphical representation 233 (e.g. an image of a “sun”) associated witha second video object, and the third display region 234 displays agraphical representation 235 (e.g. an image of a “thunderbolt”)associated with a third video object.

In some implementations, the graphical representations 231, 233, 235 maybe thumbnail images selected from one or more frames of their respectivevideo objects.

In some implementations, actions may be performed on the multimediaobjects by taking some action in relation to the associated graphicalrepresentation. For example, a user may play the first video object byclicking on the first graphical representation 231.

In some implementations, the display 206 may present one or more inputelements, such as a first control element 236 (e.g. an “OK” button) anda second control element 238 (e.g. a “CHANGE” button) for receivinginputs in association with one or more of the multimedia objects. Inimplementations where the display 206 has touch screen capabilities, thecontrol elements 236, 238 may be activated by a user's touch (e.g. usinga finger, stylus, or a pointing device). In other implementations, suchas where the display 206 does not have touch screen capabilities, thecontrol elements 236, 238 may be activated using one or more inputdevices, such as by using the trackpad 212 to manipulate a cursor on thedisplay 206 and activate the control elements 236, 238.

In some implementations, the display 206 may present related informationabout the media items being presented. For example, as shown metadata240, 242 may be associated with the second and third videos,respectively (e.g. by presenting the metadata 240 adjacent the seconddisplay region 232 and the metadata 242 adjacent the third displayregion 234). The metadata 240, 242 may include information associatedwith each particular video object. For example, the metadata 240, 242may include data such as the titles of the video, author information forthe video, rating information for the video, keywords associated withthe video, etc.

As described above, in some cases the graphical representations 231,233, 235 may be thumbnail images taken from the associated video.Generally, it may be desirable that the graphical representations 231,233, 235 give some visual indication of the content of the videos.However, sometimes the particular graphical representation 231, 233, 235being displayed may not provide a desired indication of the video.

For example, the first graphical representation 231 (e.g. the “smileyface”) may not present a desired frame of the first video (e.g. the“smiley face” may not be relevant to the nature of the video, or may notconvey a relevant meaning for the video).

According to some of the implementations as described herein, when aparticular graphical representation is being displayed on the display,an input may be received to indicate that that particular graphicalrepresentation is acceptable, or whether it is desired that it should bereplaced by another new graphical representation.

For example, when the first graphical representation 231 is displayed onthe display 206, the user may activate the second control element 238(e.g. the “CHANGE” button) to indicate that the first graphicalrepresentation 231 is undesirable and should be changed. In response tothe input, the first graphical representation 231 can be replaced byanother new graphical representation, for example a new graphicalrepresentation 237, as shown in FIG. 4.

Alternatively, the user may activate the first control element 236 (e.g.the “OK” button) to indicate that the displayed graphical representation(e.g. the first graphical representation 231) is acceptable for thatparticular video.

Generally, the selection of the new graphical representation may beperformed in any suitable manner. For example, in some implementationsthe new graphical representation (e.g. the new graphical representation237) may be selected in a randomized manner that includes using a randomnumber generator to randomly select one frame from the video object.

In some implementations, the randomized manner can be purely random, inthat the new graphical representation can be any frame selected from thevideo, and could in fact be the same graphical representation as thecurrently displayed graphical representation.

In other implementations, the randomized manner can be constrainedaccording to one or more selection criteria. For example, the randomselection of the new graphical representation may be limited so that thenew graphical representation is different from the original graphicalrepresentation (or from at least one previously discarded graphicalrepresentation), thus tending to avoid repeating a previously presentinggraphical representation.

In some implementations, the “randomized manner” of selection couldinclude selecting the new graphical representation according to aparticular pattern or sequence which may include at least somenon-random elements. For example, the new graphical representation couldbe selected to be at least particular number of frames away from theprevious graphical representation (e.g. at least ten frames), or aparticular quantity of time away from the previous graphicalrepresentation (e.g. at least ten seconds). This may increase thelikelihood that the new graphical representation is visually distinctfrom the original graphical representation.

In another example, the new graphical representation could be selectedfrom a frame that occurs in the video after the previous graphicalrepresentation, with respect to the normal time sequence for playback ofthat particular video. In yet another example, the new graphicalrepresentation could be selected from a frame that occurs in the videobefore the previous graphical representation.

In some implementations, the “randomized manner” could include selectingthe new graphical representation according to a non-random process. Forexample, a particular selection scheme could be predetermined (e.g. eachnew graphical representation should be ten frames after the previousgraphical representation).

In some implementations, the new graphical representation may beselected without performing a detailed analysis of the content of thevideo (e.g. based on a random number generator). This may help to reducethe consumption of computing resources (e.g. processor power andmemory).

In other implementations, the selection of the new graphicalrepresentation may be based on performing at least some analysis of thecontent of the video. For example, at least some portion of the videocould be analyzed and the new graphical representation selected from adifferent scene of the video, or from a different angle of the video.

In some implementations, each new graphical representation can beselected so as to be visually distinct from the previously selectedgraphical representation (or from at least one of the previouslypresented graphical representations). In some implementations, this mayinclude selecting a new graphical representation as a candidate fordisplaying (e.g. in a randomized manner), performing some type ofanalysis on the new graphical representation to determine whether it isvisually distinct from the at least one previous graphicalrepresentation, and if the new graphical representation is acceptablethen displaying the new graphical representation.

Accordingly, some implementations as described herein may provide aneasier way for a user to generate a new thumbnail or other graphicalrepresentation for a particular video or other multimedia object byrequesting that the displayed graphical representation be changed, andthis process may be repeated until a desired graphical representation isdisplayed. This may be advantageous as opposed to having the user searchthrough the video to manually locate a desired graphical representation.Additionally, this may add an element of “fun” to the user experience ofsetting of video thumbnails, and users may be entertained by observingwhich images are selected and displayed on the display and then decidingwhether to accept or change a particular graphical representation.

In some implementations, when a graphical representation is displayed,if an input is not received within a particular period of time (e.g. tenseconds), the graphical representation may be automatically replacedwith a new graphical representation. For example, if the first graphicalrepresentation 231 has been displayed on the display 206 for ten secondswithout an input being received (e.g. through either of the controlelements 236, 238), the first graphical representation 231 may bereplaced by the new graphical representation 237 selected from the videoin a randomized manner. In such implementations, the displayed graphicalrepresentation can be “cycled” at particular time intervals until adesired graphical representation is displayed.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which depicts a flow chart of a method300 of displaying graphical representations of videos or othermultimedia objects.

At step 302, the method 300 includes selecting a first graphicalrepresentation associated with a particular video or other multimediaitem. For example, the first graphical representation may be a frame ofthe video, or another image. In some implementations, the firstgraphical representation may be selected according to particularcriteria (e.g. the first graphical representation may be the first frameof the video, the fifth frame of the video, etc.). In otherimplementations, the first graphical representation may be selectedaccording to some randomized manner (e.g. the first graphicalrepresentation 231 may be randomly selected from the video or beselected according to a particular non-random pattern).

At step 304, this first graphical representation is displayed. Forexample, the first graphical representation 231 may be displayed on thedisplay 206 of the portable electronic device 200.

At step 306, an input is received in association with the firstgraphical representation. For example, this could be a user inputreceived through a touchscreen display (e.g. display 206) or usinganother input device (e.g. auxiliary input device 212).

At step 308, a determination is made as to whether the input isrequesting a change of the first graphical representation. For example,the user may select the second control element 238 (e.g. the “CHANGE”button), to indicate that the user wants to change the first graphicalrepresentation associated with that video to a different graphicalrepresentation. This could for example indicate that the user does notconsider the first graphical representation to adequately represent thevideo. If a change request is detected, the method 300 then proceeds tostep 312.

However, if the input indicates that the first graphical representationis acceptable and does not need to be changed (e.g. the user may selectthe first control element 236, the “OK” button), the method 300 may thenproceed to step 310.

At step 310, the method 300 may indicate that the displayed graphicalrepresentation is accepted. The method 300 may then terminate, proceedto another video object, or take some other action (e.g. displaying adialog box indicating that the displayed graphical representation hasbeen accepted).

At step 312, a new graphical representation is selected. For example, asdiscussed the new graphical representation may be selected in a“randomized manner”, which could include random or pseudo-randomselection of a thumbnails, or selection of thumbnails according to someparticular non-random pattern or sequence. For example, the newgraphical representation 237 may be selected from the video.

At step 314, the new graphical representation is displayed. For example,the new graphical representation 237 may be displayed on the display206.

In some implementations, before the new graphical representation 237 isdisplayed on the display 206, some analysis may be performed todetermine whether the new graphical representation 237 is visuallydistinct from the first graphical representation, and if not the newgraphical representation 237 may be discarded and another new graphicalrepresentation selected.

In some implementations, after step 314 the method 300 may then returnto step 306, where an input may be received to indicate whether the newdisplayed graphical representation is acceptable, or should be changed.

In some implementations, the method 300 can be repeated until a desiredgraphical representation has been identified.

Turning now to FIG. 6, illustrated therein is schematic view of a video400 having a number of frames. For example, the video 400 may have afirst frame 402 that shows an image 403 of a “smiley face”, and whichmay be used as the first graphical representation 231. The video 400also includes a plurality of other frames, including frames 404, 406 and408.

As discussed above, in some implementations when an input is received toreplace the currently displayed graphical representation with a newgraphical representation, the new graphical representation can beselected from a frame of the video (e.g. video 400) according to somerandomized manner. For example, the new frame 404 could be selectedbased on a random or pseudo-random selection.

In some implementations, the term “randomized manner” could includeselecting the new graphical representation based on a non-randompattern. For example, the frame 406 could be selected as the newgraphical representation by selecting the fifth frame after thepreviously displayed frame (e.g. frame 402).

In some implementations, the new frame (e.g. frame 406) could beselected following a scene change, thus providing a visually distinctnew graphical representation from a previously presented frame (e.g.frame 404). This may be true even though the frames 404, 406 may only beseparated by a small number of frames (e.g. two frames, as indicatedgenerally at 410).

In some implementations, a new frame 408 could be selected after aprevious frame (e.g. frame 404) based on a criteria that the new framebe at least a certain number of frames after the previous frame (e.g.fourteen frames, as indicated generally as 412).

In some implementations, the frames 402, 404, 406, 408 may be selectedin a sequence or order that corresponds to the normal playback sequenceof the video 400 (as indicated generally at 416). For example, frame 408will be selected for display after frame 406, which will be selected fordisplay after frame 404, and so on. In other implementations, the frames402, 404, 406, 408 may be selected without regard to the order of theframes as they appear in the video 400.

The foregoing aspects of the method and the electronic device areprovided for exemplary purposes only. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that various changes may be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the method and the electronic device asdefined by the appended claims.

1. An electronic device, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled tothe processor and configured to store instructions executable by theprocessor; a display coupled to the processor; wherein the processor isconfigured to: display a first graphical representation associated witha multimedia object on the display; receive an input in relation to thefirst graphical representation; and in response to the input, determinewhether to change the first graphical representation, and if so thenselect a second graphical representation from the multimedia object in arandomized manner; and display the second graphical representation onthe display.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processoris further configured to: receive an input in relation to the secondgraphical representation, and in response to this input, determiningwhether to change the second graphical representation, and if so thenselecting a third graphical representation from the multimedia object ina randomized manner; and display the third graphical representation onthe display.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the multimediaobject is a video, and wherein the second graphical representation is aframe of the video.
 4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein therandomized manner includes random selection of the second graphicalrepresentation.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein therandomized manner includes selection of the second graphicalrepresentation according to a particular pattern that includes at leastsome non-random elements.
 6. The electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe second graphical representation is visually distinct from the firstgraphical representation.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe second graphical representation is selected to be at least aparticular number of frames away from the first graphicalrepresentation.
 8. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the frameof the second graphical representation occurs in the video after theprevious graphical representation.
 9. The electronic device of claim 1,further comprising, before displaying the second graphicalrepresentation, analyzing the second graphical representation todetermine whether it is visually distinct from the first graphicalrepresentation, and if so then displaying the second graphicalrepresentation on the display.
 10. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein, if the input is not received within a particular period of timeafter the first graphical representation is displayed, thenautomatically selecting and displaying the second graphicalrepresentation.
 11. A method of previewing multimedia data, comprising:selecting a first graphical representation in association with amultimedia object; displaying the first graphical representation;receiving an input in relation to the first graphical representation; inresponse to the input, determining whether to change the first graphicalrepresentation, and if so then selecting a second graphicalrepresentation from the multimedia object in a randomized manner; anddisplaying the second graphical representation.
 12. The method of claim11, further comprising: receiving an input in relation to the secondgraphical representation, and in response to this input, determiningwhether to change the second graphical representation, and if so thenselecting a third graphical representation from the multimedia object ina randomized manner; and displaying the third graphical representation.13. The method of claim 11, wherein the multimedia object is a video,and wherein the second graphical representation is a frame of the video.14. The method of claim 11, wherein the randomized manner includesrandom selection of the second graphical representation.
 15. The methodof claim 11, wherein the randomized manner includes selection of thesecond graphical representation according to a particular pattern thatincludes at least some non-random elements.
 16. The method of claim 11,wherein the second graphical representation is visually distinct fromthe first graphical representation.
 17. The method of claim 11, whereinthe second graphical representation is selected to be at least aparticular number of frames away from the first graphicalrepresentation.
 18. The method of claim 13, wherein the frame of thesecond graphical representation occurs in the video after the previousgraphical representation.
 19. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising, before displaying the second graphical representation,analyzing the second graphical representation to determine whether it isvisually distinct from the first graphical representation, and if sothen displaying the second graphical representation.
 20. The method ofclaim 11, wherein, if the input is not received within a particularperiod of time after the first graphical representation is displayed,then automatically selecting the second graphical representation.